Chapter 76 Reasons [2]

A/N:-Changing One Month[1] to Reasons [1]

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Third Great Disaster.

It isn't wrong to say that if not for the three Irregulars humanity almost went extinct on that day.

But they weren't the only ones who fought to protect Earth.

After everything ended, there was no news of the heroes who repelled the invasion.

A few weeks later, the investigation to search them was underway when Grandmaster Yui showed up at the gates of Aegis headquarters.

She was badly injured and it won't have been wrong to call her half-dead instead of alive.

Then, she recounted everything that happened during the invasion, why they kept their identities hidden, and many more things.

In exchange, she made it so that all the information will be highly guarded secret. Thus only the titles of the heroes who saved the Earth were announced.

This wasn't the end though.

After the Demon Army was repelled, thousands of awakeners were either reported missing or dead. This was the official statement.

The unofficial death toll was many times higher.

War Maiden, Earth's youngest Gamma-rank awakener was one such person. She had fought to protect several countries alone.

But because of the lack of reinforcements, she was ultimately besieged by the demon army and decapitated.

Leaving her husband, Noah Oliver, and her daughter all alone in this world.

Noah drowned himself in alcohol after his wife died. Unable to cope with the loss he only stared at her pictures and recounted the memories they shared.

As the leader of the Dawn Guild, his absence dealt a major blow to his guild.

Dawn Guild, having lost much personnel in the disaster and refusal from their Guild Leader to work, quickly fell off their position of the 1st ranking guild.

Finally, the elders of the Guild couldn't watch anymore and intervened.

Slowly, they shifted Noah's attention from the loss of his wife to revenge against the demons. They believed with this Noah's productivity will soar and the guild will rise back to its previous position.

At this time, a piece of particular news spread in the high-ranking awakener's society 'The Irregulars are no more. Only a single Irregular survived. Aegis is now starting an operation to create a Weapon that will protect Earth in the future.'

Hearing this rumor and confirming it, Noah decided to help Aegis by providing them with the best material that could be turned into a weapon, his own daughter.

Revenge was the only thing on Noah's mind when he decided to sacrifice his daughter.

His wife, the youngest Gamma rank awakened had awakened at the age of 11. Yet His daughter had awakened even though she wasn't even 10.

This spoke at length about his daughter's talent. He thought, no, believed if there was anyone who could kill those demons and get revenge, it will be his daughter.

With her talent, Aegis didn't refuse and began training Noah's daughter, Susan.

Aegis didn't hold back in training her. They only had one goal. To create the strongest Weapon.

A weapon that no matter what the Earth faces will not bend and cut through everything that threatens it.

Weeks after weeks, her body was operated on. She was made to go through harsh trials and made to learn their ideologies.

Her freedom was taken away from her, and her will was restrained.

Naturally, Susan resisted. But her will to resist was slowly bent.

She no longer tried to run away from the training or refused to take the enhancements.

She became the perfect puppet that only followed orders. The bird that was meant to soar in the sky was caged.

This was what she made everyone believe.

Her will to be free was stronger than anyone could have anticipated.

Living through the harsh reality, she realized early on that she needed to at least fake obedience if she didn't want to be turned into a puppet.

Each day, she lived while waiting for a chance. A chance to escape.

And after seven years, the chance finally arrived.

For the first time in seven years, she was let out of the secret facility.

Aegis had released her to show the world they were developing. Through the seven years, many high-ranking families, guilds, and heroes have poured their resources on her.

They wanted to see the results. This was why Aegis admitted her to Ward.

As if the stars themselves were shining on her. Her luck only got better from here on.

During admission, Ward's Headmaster, one of the four surviving pioneers, objected to her admission. She objected that unless every and any type of tracker installed on Susan is removed, she won't allow Susan to enter Ward.

If it was any other person, Aegis would have refused, but she was a pioneer, a Sandra-rank awakener of Earth's forces.

With the pressure from the investors, Aegis finally folded and agreed to the Headmaster's demands.

Susan knew that Ward was her only chance at freedom. She knew that she had to find a way in the upcoming four years if she wanted to escape.

She decided to patiently look for that chance.

But she never expected that her chance will come so early.

During the entrance examination, Susan landed in an area infested by blood boars. She was already Iota-rank and didn't get any Exp from killing them.

But she couldn't leave the area. No matter how much she walked, she always returned to the same point.

At first, Susan thought that she was inside an illusion, but after two days, she had to face the truth. She was poor with direction, incredibly so.

Then on the third day to pass time, she decided to massacre all the Iota-rank boars in the area.

Susan had been trained to always look back at her battles and contemplate methods to improve. When she ended her killing spree, she realized that she didn't get Exp for one boar.

She quickly tracked the escaped boar and found that it had joined a stampede.

Watching the stampede, she realized that she will be able to leave the area if she followed it. There was no way she will lose directions if she followed the horde.

"That boar doesn't look like it would leave us. I think we need bait to distract it."

"Pierce!"

"D-don't.."

It was when she was following the horde she found a group of three examinees.

From their interaction, she found that two of them were betraying one of their teammates to escape the injured Iota-rank boar.

The Iota-rank boar was the one keeping the horde organized.

If in one in a hundred possibilities the examinee managed to kill the boar alone, the horde will disperse without any command.

Susan didn't want to again get lost in the forest. She followed the examinee and the boar to make sure the boar isn't killed.

The boar stopped running after some time, and they fought. Shortly, the examinee was slammed into the ground.

Up to here, everything went as Susan expected. It was from here on that things took an unexpected turn.

"...Hehehe"

The examinee suddenly started laughing.

Susan almost believed that he lost his mind from pressure until he spoke his next words.

"I need to be there when those guys receive my gift."

The meaning behind those words greatly surprised Susan.

'He knew he was about to be betrayed?'

But the more surprising fact was...

'He prepared countermeasures?!'

It has to be noted that because of the manner they were sent to the island. Most people who banded together were strangers.

The ability to notice that a teammate, whose personality you didn't even know was going to betray you, wasn't easy. The pressure to pass the exam and the harsh environment only made it more difficult.

But to even prepare countermeasures?!

Susan couldn't believe it. She decided to observe him and see if he really did prepare something or if he had just gone crazy.

'Even if he is crazy, I can use him as a guide instead of the boar.'

Surprisingly, by the time Susan made her decision the examinee had already won!

Susan wasn't surprised, though. She could defeat early iota rank monsters when she was just lvl5.

For the next few hours, she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

The examinee was laughing crazily as he ran despite his injuries!

She almost regretted her decision to leave the boar to die and take him as a guide.

But when she saw how he dealt with his ex-teammates, her thought about him changed again.

'Genius.'

That was all she could call him.

From their conversation, it was clear that the examinee was ready for his teammates' betrayal from the beginning and also prepared for it!

This level of analytical ability transcended common sense.

The way the examinee made decisions on the spot and executed was on the level of top commanders she had met in Aegis.

Susan thought that it was the end, but the surprises were only beginning.

After dealing with his ex-teammates, the examinee climbed a guardian cliff.

She then saw him making the statue fall and leaving for another place.

'Is that an Aether Orb?'

An Aether Orb was precious, even by her standards.

The way the examinee didn't give the orb another single glance made her consider that the examinee had another goal.

And that goal was even more important that an Aether Orb.

This made her wonder what could the examinee's goal be.

Byzander Island had been around for so long that anything of value had been excavated.

An Aether Orb was already a very big thing. Not to mention something better than it.

Sadly for her, she couldn't follow him anymore when the Sky-Viper came.

Although the sky viper ignored the examinee as he was too weak, the same case wasn't true for Susan.

Susan had to leave, otherwise the beast would've attacked her. And given the difference in their levels, she would've been defeated.

Susan tried to go to the next guardian cliff from the ground to follow the examinee.

But she got lost, again.